George Gordon 2nd Earl of Huntly
Home | Castles Index | Gordons of Interest | Lands, Estates | Battlefields Parentage Family Tree Father's 1st wife ---- Father's 2nd wife ---- Father's 3rd wife Offspring Family Tree 1st wife Lady Elizabeth Dunbar May 20th, 1445. Divorced March 10th 1459, no issue 2nd wife Annabella Stewart (Daughter of James I Stewart, King of Scotland) 10 March 1459. Divorced on 24 July 1471 on the grounds of consanguinity ---- 3rd wife Married August 1471 History George Gordon, second earl of Huntly, (before 1441 – 8 June 1501)was Chancellor of Scotland from 1498–1501, the eldest son of the second marriage of his father, was one of the conservators of the peace with England in 1484. George is first mentioned by name in 1441 when the lands which later became part of the Earldom were settled on him and his heirs. George was almost certainly born shortly before this time, c. 1441 as his parents married before 18 March 1439–40. In his contract with Elizabeth Dunbar, Countess of Moray, dated 20 May 1455 he is styled the Master of Huntly. He is addressed as "Sir George Seton, knight", in a royal precept dated 7 March 1456–7, and in a crown charter dated a year later he uses the name of Gordon for the first time, indicating he had assumed that surname. As George, Lord Gordon, he was keeper of the castles of Kildrummy, Kindrochit and Inverness. He succeeded his father as Earl of Huntly c. 15 July 1470. He was one of the privy council of King James III., to whom he, for a long time, firmly adhered, when the great body of the Scots nobility had combined against him. In 1488, he and the earl of Crawford were, in open parliament, appointed lords of justiciary north of the river Forth. He is said to have, soon after, been instrumental in bringing about a sort of hollow agreement between the confederated nobles and the king at Blackness, but in consequence of James not fulfilling some of the concessions involved in it, he quitted that unhappy monarch and joined the rebellious lords; though he was always opposed to any violent measure. On the accession of James IV., in June of that year, he was sworn of his privy council, and empowered to repress disorders in the northern parts of the kingdom during the king’s minority. On 13th May, 1491, he was constituted his majesty’s lieutenant in the northern parts of Scotland beyond the river Northesk. In 1497 George Gordon was appointed High Chancellor of Scotland, the honor probably bestowed at the same time as his daughter Catherine married Perkin Warbeck, an adventurer in favor with King James IV of Scotland. The 2nd Earl completed the building work that his father begun in constructing Huntly Castle. He died at Stirling Castle on 8 June 1501. He married Elizabeth Dunbar, the widow of the Count of Moray, on 20 May 1445. There were no children from the marriage; the two were married for only a short time before he obtained a divorce in order to marry Annabella of Scotland, daughter of James I of Scotland. The couple had at least one daughter, though some sources list them as having as many as six children. The Earl obtained an annulment on 24 July 1471 on the basis of Annabella of Scotland's consanguinity with Elizabeth Dunbar. He then married his mistress, Elizabeth Hay, on 12 May 1476. ---- Home | Castles Index | Gordons of Interest | Lands, Estates | Battlefields Category:People Category:Ducal